Crochet Inspiration from An Area Rug

I saw an ad in the September issue of House Beautiful magazine for this rug:

I liked the use of brown and turquoise and used this inspiration for two new crochet designs. I used simple stripes this time and also created a bowl with a lid. A lid comes in handy for keeping items cleverly hidden. :-)

Brown and turquoise striped crochet bowl.

Brown and turquoise striped crochet bowl with lid.

The button on the lid.

My big news is that I plan to open my etsy shop to sell my bowls in the next couple of weeks. I will post an announcement here on my blog.

Let's get some conversation going. Any questions, comments or suggestions? I'd love to read them. Have a wonderful day!

The Galah Crochet Basket

My latest crochet basket was inspired by one of my favorite Australian birds, the galah, or rose-breasted cockatoo. We had many of them visit us during our two years in Canberra. Our nickname for them was "Lovelies". I really admired the gray and rose of their feathers. Such a beautiful bird!

Gorgeous Galah

Close-up of satin cord crochet basket

Silver and rose pink satin cord crochet basket

I can picture this color combination in an entry hall for keys and sunglasses. Or how about a lady's dressing table to contain those beauty supplies?

A Larger Crochet Basket Design

Hello, everyone! How about a glimpse of a larger crochet basket I created? The wavy stitch design is the same one that I used on the baskets in my previous post. This time the dimensions are 7" x 3 1/2".

Toffee and Light Blue Satin Cord Crochet Basket

Close-up of my crochet stitches

Bottom of basket showing my label and embroidered edge

Picture a lovely beach house, with this basket filled with shells or starfish on the coffee table. I can also see it in a bathroom, filled with hand towels or wash cloths. How do you envision using it in your own home?

Wishing everyone a beautiful Friday and a lovely weekend. I can feel fall in the air!

My Latest Crochet Creations

I took some time today to work on my photography. I practiced on my latest design which is a wave stitch. I like the fluidity of these bowls, the way the satin cord makes me want to sculpt it once it is completed. I also used the wave stitch on a hemp twine acorn bowl. The shape of it is very fun.

Coral and light blue satin cord crochet bowl.

Doesn't my prop look delicious?

Fuchsia and apple green satin cord crochet bowl.

Close-up of my stitches.

Turquoise and black satin cord crochet bowl.

Turquoise and white hemp cord acorn crochet bowl.

Another view.

View of the lid.

What do you think? I do feel like my photos are starting to show improvement. I know I have been told many times to take lots of shots, but I skimped a bit because it was hot outside and the gnats were gnawing on me.

The next series of designs I am going to work with softer colors of the satin cord. As much as I love the brights, I want to be able to offer muted tones as well.

A Hive of Colorful Crochet

Here we are at the end of another week. I spent most of my creative time working on my website and logo. I enjoy Photoshop and am even getting the hang of Illustrator! I had a great time designing my "bee" and my "hive". I even made a button, as you can see on the left. I would love it if you grabbed one!

I am really thrilled to be a part of this online artistic community. I feel like I am part of something very special and very genuine. I don't feel like I have to do anything other than be myself to fit in. I love that! There has been so much support and activity that it makes me feel like no mountain is insurmountable. After two years of bitter heartache and pain, I am ready for healing and growth. I also want to put some positive energy into this world by supporting everyone that crosses my path.

Last week I was in the flow of creativity. I still feel it, and am ready to start working on new basket designs. I am concentrating on color and design in my crochet and it is really inspiring me to try new stitches. Here are my latest creations. What do you think?

Black and red basket using long single stitch.

Aqua and apple green basket using the long single stitch.

Red and aqua basket with diamond pattern.

Apple green and purple basket with diamond pattern.

Close-up of green and purple basket.

Goals and a Rose

Last week's goal list:

1. Set up website on squarespace.com. I decided to try bigblackbag.com instead, thanks to a tip from my new friend, Jo. I did start my home page, but want to use different photos.

2. Update social networking sites (blog, facebook, twitter) about the process. Since I didn't do much work on my website, I really had nothing to write about. I did continue to use facebook and twitter to support and encourage my fellow artists.

3. Continue to develop brand. Hmm, I have had this on my mind for a bit. I did ask my husband how he would describe my baskets. His reply? "Traditional, with a modern twist." I like that!

3. Continue to develop lines of inventory. I did make some new baskets, two with a new design. I will upload photos of them soon.

4. Work on pricing strategy. I began work on this last night. There is a lot to consider, and I want to be conscious of the time and effort I am putting into the construction of my baskets.

So for this week, I hope to get at least the bare bones version of my website up and running. I decided to break this goal out into smaller steps:

1. Take photos for the home page.

2. Write my bio for an "About Me" page.

3. Link my website to my blog.

4. Develop my home page with photos and logo.

5. Make my own logo in Illustrator. This could be tricky, but I am going to give it a try.

6. Develop my tagline. I want it to declare my intentions for my creations.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, creative and playful week!

My Mardi Gras rose. Such a beauty!

A Long Week

The first week of summer vacation and the temps have been in the 90's. My kids are swimming for our community team and have practice every week day starting at 8 a.m. It is a little adjustment for us. Mainly it means that I cannot do any kind of creative activity until after 10:30. That is, if I am feeling motivated. I must admit that my mojo was nowhere in sight. I tried to fake it, but it was not until yesterday that I felt that spark again. One big problem: I had the hives Wednesday night. I am fairly sure it was caused by a tick bite. I had found one of those nasty things on my foot last week. It itched terribly. Wednesday night I was checking it and must have hit the "hives" button. It started with the palms of my hands itching. Then gradually it crept over my whole body. It was a terrible experience! I also felt very nauseated and thought I would faint. I practically coated myself in cortisone and finally fell asleep. What an ordeal! I looked up hives the next morning and found out that it is really nothing to worry about unless you have trouble breathing. But I thought I might need a trip to the ER. I was glad when I woke up and the itching was gone.

I have been working on new ideas for my crocheted baskets. I have been adding felt to the bottoms to protect them. I am also working on some embellishments. I went to our library this afternoon for some inspiration and hope to get some time this weekend to get creative. The kids do have a swim meet tomorrow morning. Other than that, the calendar is pretty open.

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.

Purple and orange basket inspired by my garden.

Doe a Deer

She ran across our path and stood in the woods, about ten feet away. She stared at me while I gently talked to her. I admired those big eyes and ears and compared her red fur to my greyhound's fur. She decided to move across the path again. Then she just stared as we walked away.

She was a whitetail deer. I know so many people consider them garden enemy number one, but I do not, and I do love my garden. Perhaps they know of my adoration because they rarely nibble my plants. Or maybe my neighbors have a better buffet.

I do wish I had taken my camera for this morning's walk. But I will always have that image of that lovely doe in my mind.

I did take photos in my garden, as well as photos of my new crocheted bowl.

Old-fashioned orange daylily.

Bee on a sunflower.

Mountain bluet.

Strange bug on Shasta Daisy. 

Scabiosa beginning to open, with seedpod in background.

First butterfly photo of the season. A cabbage white.

The cabbage white in flight!

The hot pink and black basket I created this weekend. 

I started work on it outside and loved how the pink shimmered in the sun.

My child has mistaken my bowl for a hat! Both of my children have this habit.  :-)

Testing My Wings

Thank you all for the kind comments regarding my crochet. I feel inspired and motivated now! I am meeting so many amazing artists as a result of Kelly Rae's e-course. I am enjoying that immensely.

I had a couple of projects that I had laid aside a few months ago. Here they are, completed:

A pencil cup holding my i-Pod. :-)

A fiesta of a basket. I'm thinking it could hold picnic table supplies.

I started and finished this basket over the weekend. I used silver rat tail cord. I enjoyed making it because the cord was very soft.



This "acorn" is one of my first designs. I included a squirrel charm from glamourgirlbeads on the cap.

I truly do feel inspired, but I also feel a bit overwhelmed. One of my biggest struggles is with balance. I am a stay-at-home mother to my two children. I have them to think of as well as a home and garden. I want to learn how to stay involved in all areas of my life. It feels as though as soon as I start concentrating on my artistic goals, something or someone is getting neglected. Any suggestions on how to manage everything and not feel completely wiped out? I would appreciate any feedback.

Learning to Fly

Here I am after nearly three months of silence. Once spring arrived, I ran immediately to my garden. I am growing a few veggies this year. I harvested some broccoli as well as snow and early peas yesterday. The peas taste like little green balls of sugar! Yum!

Sunday began Kelly Rae Roberts' online class, Taking Flight. She designed it to help hopeful artistic types (like me, yes, ME!) launch our creative businesses. Our most recent lesson was about blogging and how important it is to document our process and our growth. So I have made a commitment to write at least one to two times per week. I realized that I had only 30 posts since starting this blog back in September 2008. I am looking forward to changing that habit. I want to share more of myself, my goals and dreams.

In my last post, I talked about some crochet projects I had been working on. I photographed them on our patio table this afternoon. As I was displaying and photographing them, I realized what has been holding me back as far as opening an etsy shop. It was that nasty monster called PERFECTIONISM. I thought my creations had to be absolutely pristine and perfect for anyone to be interested in them. I want to change my perfectionism to "high quality and attention to detail". That should be a more achievable goal. Here are my creations:

The first is an oval basket made out of satin rattail cord.

A square basket made out of the satin cord.

An oval basket made with three colors of hemp cord.

A square napkin basket made with natural hemp cord.

A round beaded hemp basket.

A purple hemp pencil cup.

Red hemp pencil cup.

Purple hemp tiny square basket. Right now it is holding my favorite rocks, but it was designed for business cards.

Today is my 44th birthday as well. I feel much better about my life and myself than I did a year ago. This is going to be great year, one of growth and wonderful opportunities.